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Trump wants to rename NAFTA the USMC pact — yes, the same acronym as the US Marine Corps — but could drop the 'C' if Canada doesn't cave
President Donald Trump told a small group of supporters that he wants to rename NAFTA, the trilateral trade deal with Mexico and Canada, the USMC. But if Canada doesn't concede on dairy tariffs, the country may not be included.
President Donald Trump wants to give a new name to the US-Canada-Mexico trilateral trade deal.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump told supporters at a fundraising dinner on Wednesday that the North American Free Trade Agreement, better known as NAFTA, could be rebranded as the "USMC" pact.
The USMC acronym is known as an acronym for the US Marine Corps.
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But that potential conflict could be solved by dropping Canada from the pact, which the president threatened to do during the dinner. Trump appeared to be particularly focused on Canada's dairy tariffs, a longstanding obsession.
Trump triggered a renegotiation of NAFTA just days after taking office, and formal talks kicked off in August 2017. The US and Mexico recently announced a bilateral agreement on key elements of NAFTA, but negotiations between the US and Canada are ongoing.
The president has repeatedly threatened to leave Canada out of the final deal and already formally notified Congress about the bilateral agreement with Mexico.
Chrystia Freeland, Canada's global affairs minister, was in Washington, DC, for talks with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer earlier this week, but the two sides are still negotiating over a handful of issues, including the dairy tariffs.
The fundraiser was hosted by the Republican National Committee. A small meeting with the president at the event cost $100,000 per person, while the dinner that followed was $35,000 per couple, according to the Journal. The event raised a total of $3 million for the Trump Victory fund, the Journal said.
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